If you missed our September 1st issue, you are not alone. The Labor day issue was still born! Where I live in Colorado, it is a lot more fun to attend a Balloon Classic than stay in my office writing. But I'm back on-line now. It was cloudy today. :-)

This issue of "Let's Talk 2000" looks at "Peace on Earth" as related to the advent of the third millennium. It's an old story, for sure, having been heralded by a heavenly chorus over Bethlehem at the inception of the first millennium.

Now after twenty centuries, Peace at 2000 has become a human story, filled with tragedy and victory, from Rwanda to Bosnia, from the Golan Heights to Gaza City. This issue looks at how the dove of world peace will attempt to fly higher as we approach 2000.

Our first feature looks at a potential peace story developing at the United Nations on Tuesday. Our second feature reports on a "Holy Land 2000" meeting coming up in Chicago on Wednesday. Our web sites section reports on calls for millennial peace.

Sandwiched in between is a recap of a discussion we had on the daily Talk 2000 forum about the need for millennial imagination in the creation of a world without war. Good reading for anyone interested in creating a more peaceful third millennium.

News from the Field: "Here is the latest news on year 2000 efforts."

WORLD PEACE 2000 IS IN THE AIR
As leaders from 184 nations gather this week at the United Nations, some say peace will be in the air. In fact, on September 17th, at 9:30 in the morning, if you look in the sky over Manhattan, you might just see "World Peace 2000" in the clouds!

So claims Barbara Gaughen (barbara@rain.org), public relations consultant with millennium oriented Media 21. If remaining funds come in, she plans to hire a plane to airbrush the message in the heavens as a promotion for the World Peace 2000 proposals, on the opening day of the General Assembly.

Mr. Rodrigo Carazo, former president of Costa Rica, convened a global meeting of the "World Peace 2000" network this past Friday in New York. Interest has been building in Rodrigo's effort since an April launch, especially among NGO's active in citizen peace diplomacy (http://members.aol.com/wpeace2000/index.htm). The World Peace 2000 network has put forward a number of proposals to the President of the UN General Assembly, including a call to declare the Year 2000 an International Year of Peace.

Despite this optimism directed toward the world's peace partnership, the United Nations is overburdened and under-financed, at all-time low levels. Cuts are being considered in the U.N. Peacekeeping program due to uncollected fees from the U.S. and other major countries.

And tempering optimism is the fact that previous calls for the U.N. to prepare for millennium celebrations have gone unheeded. Like skywriting that first appears--then vanishes, peace can be an illusive, perishable commodity!

Yet researchers at Sweden's Uppsala University recently reported, "Contrary to popular belief, the number of armed conflicts has not been rising continuously after the end of the Cold War." During the '90s, conflicts within countries, such as Iraqis with Kurds, seem to be the norm.

Will the pressure on the barometers of war ease globally by 2000? Peace activists hope so.

The next convocation of the World Peace 2000 network will be held in Iceland, October 2-12, when Thor Magnusson's Peace 2000 Institute teams up with Mikhail Gorbachev to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his historic encounter with Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik. Source: Bimillennial Press, talk2000@rmii.com

SUMMIT TO LOOK AT "HOLY LAND 2000" Some 25 leaders from around the U.S. in the area of trade, travel and culture will gather in Chicago on September 18-19th to consider how the church in the Holy Land might be empowered to welcome some 10 million pilgrims to the land of Christ's birth.

An uncertain peace process in Israel, coupled with economic pressures, has recently threatened to derail millennial preparations in Bethlehem. The cancelation of millennial celebrations in the very place where 2,000 years ago angels sang, "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men" could leave the bimillennium adrift without a historic anchor. The Chicago summit, convened by the Catlin Foundation, seeks to address these problems and turn the millennial tide.

"At this summit, we are looking at how preparations for Christ's 2,000th anniversary in the Middle East can strengthen human rights, religious freedom and prospects for peace," stated Robin Wainwright, of The Magi Project. Wainwright's own project intends to reenact the "Journey of the Magi" during the fall of 1998 to kick off a commemorative "Holy Land 2000(tm)" season from 1999 to 2001.

What may come out of the Chicago meeting? Wainwright says to stay tuned to September 21st, when he will announce the opening of a ministry of trade and tourism office for the Holy Land. Operating from the U.S., it's mission will be to promote Christ's 2,000th anniversary to corporate, sister city and church audiences. Media may contact tribute2@rmii.com for interviews. Source: Bimillennial Press, talk2000@rmii.com

Talk from the Forum: "Here is a recap of recent conversations"

INSPIRATION FOR A WORLD WITHOUT WARWhat does millennialism have to do with world peace? On August 15th, the Talk 2000 forum heard from the founder of Earth Day, Mr. John McConnell (TrusteeOne@aol.com). He posted an essay to Talk 2000 which was entitled, "World Without War." It began this way:

"Is there a program now available that will eliminate future wars? Is it now possible to achieve humanity's age-long dream of a world without war? In the evolution of history are there new factors that can facilitate peaceful resolution of conflict and encourage freedom and order, justice and mutual responsibility? Can we all now act as responsible Trustees of Earth?"

A few days later, Alan Dechert (75627.1634@compuserve.com) pointed out, in his opinion, an omission McConnell had made. He wrote: "War is a product of the system of sovereign states. It can never be eliminated until this system [of nation states] is dismantled and re-organized." Dechert went on to call for a World Federation, a global system of government to abolish war.

On Saturday, August 24th, author of The Millennium Myth, Michael Grosso (mgrosso@warwick.net) came back with a criticism of Dechert's version of world government, and said we need more millennial inspiration.

"Unfortunately, this isn't an idea [World Federalism] that inspires me. Quite frankly, I find it chilling. It's a vision of peace that is totally external, exclusively rational. Peace is imagined as imposed on the world by military force concentrated in a single, centralized, and absolute power. The conception of peace as here described is logically compatible with the ruthless repression of individual values and needs.

It makes no appeal, and contains no reference, to what we might call the soul of the community, the uncoerced "sensus communus." Its idea of "surrender[ing] all military equipment to the World Federation" I find abhorrent. The vision of peace that does inspire me is the one in which all military equipment is surrendered. Period.

...what we could use nowadays is a little bit of 'inspired imagination.' ... In fact, I'd say that millennialism is mainly about the inspired imagination. Millennialism, as I understand it, is about the extremes of imagination as well as the extremes of passion; the millennial imagination is far out; and that's the fun of it. (It's also the danger, as we know.)

If it doesn't go against the grain of common sense, it's probably not the real millennial mcoy. The technical feasibility of (say) [world peace,] life extension or space travel therefore isn't the point. More to the point of this forum is the question, 'Does it inspire, and how might this inspiration work to the good or the ill of people at large?'"

New Millennial Sites: "Here are new sites in cyberspace"

WE THE PEOPLES 2000:"International Day of Peace"
A call by Pathways to Peace for "One Minute of Silence" on the UN "International Day of Peace." This day falls each year on the third Tuesday of September, when the UN General Assembly opens.http://www.peaceday.org/unpcday.htm

MILLENNIUM OF PEACE"Preparing for the Utopia"
An Italian call (1990-2000) for responsible people to sit at the same desk to discuss the common world house, and move from a millennium of war to a millennium of peace. Offers millennial peace projects including "The Peace Olive," "The Fire" for the first millennium of peace, and Radio Pax.http://www.eva.it/cipp/millennium.html